Yikes. I'm a huge proponent of education generally, but this guy isn't exactly making a compelling argument for getting an MBA. (And, in my experience, MBAs haven't been able to offer any better advice than other experienced businesspeople -- nor even as good advice.)
"If you were to listen to some startup types (or worse yet, your early-stage VC investors) you’d skip grad school, stick to ramen in your garage while trying to nail a huge viral coefficient and plastering whiteboards with agile index cards and a huge ass lean canvas."
This is currently the advice that many people in the startup industry are giving because it works. You may choose to ignore the advice of successful people because you feel it doesn't apply to whatever it is you're trying to accomplish, but to simply blow it off as poor advice is pretty stupid.
"You’ll know enough of everything business-y to be dangerous."
Yeah, that's been my observation about MBAs in business, too.
"An MBA will teach you the fundamental theory that lets you answer each of these questions."
Fundamental theory just doesn't teach the way that experience does, especially when it comes to subjective things like leadership. Hell, I read a ton of psychology, I can "type" most people within a few minutes of conversation or observation, and I've got practice at leadership, and I'm still not nearly as good of a leader as someone who frequently plays a key role in a team sport.
"Think that Avon has nothing to teach you about statup marketing? Think about how they built the ULTIMATE affiliate program and drove millions in revenue through user-acquisition before Zuck was even born."
So what? If you're a startup founder and you want to shortcut this, you can read about it, or, better yet, get peer or mentor advice. That's why startup networks exist. And, is their affiliate program what made them successful? What were the long-term effects on their brand? Is it still driving their business? What if we compare them to other companies in their market that don't do affiliate programs? Let's not just mention a case study without explaining why it applies.
"I’m blessed to have people from Montreal to Mumbai in my MBA network that have built web startups, ran construction firms, brought pharamceuticals to market and kept steel mills running."
And I have the internet.
I win.
"I was lucky that in Quebec we pay the lowest costs for tuition in North America. My entire MBA cost under $10,000 (including books) through massive government subsidization..."
Ha. So, before you even start your business, go into debt first. How many of you could start more than one startup with $10,000? I bet a few. That's two failures, two opportunities at success, two practical real-world life experiences to learn from, before an MBA even gets started.
"To make an educated decision about whether or not the tuition is worth it MBA style, you need to figure out the ROI."
Things an MBA teaches you, number one: don't say "whether it's worth it" when you can say "the ROI" instead.
"Thing is, it’s hard to put a precise dollar amount on the return you’ll get from your degree in the context of your first tech startup."
In other words, literally "not clearly worth it". Might be, might not be. For 10+ grand, that's an even bigger gamble than your first startup.
"MBA programs suck up your time. There’s no escaping it. If you want to do well, you need to work hard, attend a ton of group meetings, and write a heck of a lot of powerpoint decks. However, in a startup, you won’t have it any easier. An MBA is a great way to teach you how to find balance between your work and your personal life."
An MBA does not magically make these things easier, and I disagree that a startup has to be subjected to the same ton of group meetings and powerpoint decks. People who choose to upset their work/life balance do so because they want to hustle, not because they don't have an MBA and don't know any better.
I could start a 9-to-5 schedule tomorrow. So could most of you. My business has made it; it'll be self-sustaining on that schedule. But I want it to get bigger, and I want it to get bigger quickly, so I'm working more hours -- same as I would if I bought an MBA for 10 grand and 4 years' work.
"I quickly learned how to balance it all and launched a startup. By the time I graduated, I had been on TechCrunch, through an accelerator, had a product in market, revenue and was interviewing my first employee."
Good! But, again, he's not presenting anything compelling that says that the MBA got him there.
"That said, how much disruption can you really create when everyone in your circle has the same worldview?"
I think the whole "disruption" thing is a little bit silly, but this is a dumb statement. If you want to disrupt an industry, one of the first questions you'll be asked by startup investors is whether or not you have experience in that industry and whether or not you've talked to your potential customers. An MBA does not magically grant you access to insider information that you can't get from startup networks and customer research.
"MBA’s learn how to do it the traditional way: market studies and business plans (think lean startup but with a 30 page report stuck to it)."
So, not a lean startup.
These reports for most businesses are complete fiction. They're full of numbers that get invented by the author sitting back and imagining things. "My market has X people in it, the demographics are Y, if I target foo percent of channels bar and baz, I should be able to make quux!"
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I get that he was responding to another guy's blog about the benefits of not getting an MBA, that he feels was bad advice, but he really hasn't presented a strong case in favor of the MBA.